Christianity for Both Sides of the Aisle
A recent encounter with two friends caused me to realize that I needed to approach political conversations in a whole different way. With our country divided the way it is, simple dialogues about how government should be run are now a thing of the past. Everyone has their guard up; everybody believes they’re right; all think the other side is wrong. Before the discussion with my friends even got past introductory comments, one person had her arms crossed, the other bolted for the door. I knew right then and there my days as a “Political Pastor” had come to an end.
“I write on the cusp of a momentous event—the most crucial midterm election of my lifetime,” wrote Janie B. Cheney in an article for WORLD Magazine. “It replaces the previous most-crucial midterm of my lifetime, which occurred in 2014. Farther back in memory is the third most-crucial midterm of 2010. But no sooner will Nov. 6 come and go than the general election of 2020 will loom like a tidal wave of crucial importance. Every two years the stakes crawl higher, with more lives and futures at risk. Everything we hold dear is on the line, threatened with extinction if the other side wins. Or maybe not.”
Cheney continues, “It’s happened before, but always with some well-defined danger in view: ‘secession in the 1860s, labor wars in the 1870s, socialism in the 1890s, the Cold War in the 1960s and ’70s. The current ‘crisis’ is not so well defined, and certainly not as cogently argued. After every ugly incident, furious fingers point at both sides: They started it. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. Call down hell, and there’s hell to pay. This, pundits warn us solemnly, is a crisis of ‘civility.’”
With that in mind, I have come up with some directives that come from the Bible so that we can get back to the business of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF CIVILITY FOR A POLITICALLY-CHARGED AGE
Guess Who Will Never Get Elected President?
UNLESS WE EXPERIENCE A MILITARY COUP, a thermo-nuclear war or Jesus returning, in all likelihood, by November 9, we will have as our President either Trump or Hillary. Both have endured gloves-off politicking, scandals and stupid things said and done, but, regardless, one of these two will hold the highest office in the land.
Yes, in this great nation of ours, almost anyone can make it to the top spot. The Commander-in-Chief’s shoes can be filled by nearly anybody. With enough hard work and God’s sovereignty the most unlikely of candidates can have their shot at POTUS.
There is one candidate who is completely unelectable. Pigs will fly on the 12th of Never, when Hell freezes over in a month of Sundays before this type of person makes it as our Chief Executive. Who might this be?
So far, only one sitting congressman, Pete Stark, has ever admitted to being one, and when he did, he lost his re-election bid after serving in the U.S. House for 40 years.
Former Representative Barney Frank “came out of the closet” after retiring in 2013 and 25 years past the time he came out as the first openly gay member of Congress; but, then in his memoir he backpedaled and did not want to be identified as “one of them.”
“One of what?” you ask. Hold on.
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